I, Claudius

I started working towards goal number twenty today: Read 50 adult books I’ve never read before. I finished the remarkable I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Not knowing much about the history of Ancient Rome, I wasn't sure if I would find the subject of this novel boring or difficult to relate to. It was quite the opposite. The book is a fictional autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, who was considered to be an idiot and an invalid by his family. He manages to survive several previous Emperor, all of his family to become emperor.

The book is fascinating because it is really less about Claudius than about his family members. We get his perspective on everyone from his manipulative grandmother Livia, his cruel uncle the Emperor Tiberius, and his nephew, the mad Caligula. I just found out there is a companion book that goes more into Claudius's reign, which I must read.